CAMBRIDGE United manager Shaun Derry said there were a lot of positives to take from Cambridge United’s 2-0 defeat to Southend United.

It was the U’s last pre-season friendly before the big kick off next weekend against Exeter and the home side dominated for large swathes, with Harrison Dunk in particular looking dangerous on the wing.

However, a soft penalty which was scored by Marc Antoine Fortune and a last minute goal from substitute Theo Robinson, alongside a missed Luke Berry penalty half-way through the second half, condemned the U’s to defeat.

And Derry said that he was disappointed with some aspects of referee David Rock’s officiating.

He said: “I thought it was a very good performance today. You look at the contentious penalty decision and I think there was only one person in the entire stadium who saw that.

“I spoke to Phil (Brown, Southend manager) at half-time and I don’t think any of their staff thought it was a penalty either which disappoints me in a way as, as much as we’re trying to take our performance into the season, the officials have to take their own as well.

“There was a lot of positives for us so I was pleased. A lot of positive performances, a lot of strong performances out there and we’re looking forward to next week.”

In particular Derry was pleased with his team’s defensive display and the defensive midfield duo of Liam O’Neil and Gary Deegan who controlled the game well.

However, there was still a lack of threat in front of goal and Derry said he hopes that his strike force would fare better next week than they did today.

He said: “There was some good part of the games today and I think we dominated for large periods and we dominated especially in the second half. We had four or five fantastic opportunities.

“I suppose if there’s one criticism, we have to dominate those situations and we have to score goals and we know that and we spoke about that but we look into next week with a positive state of mind.

“You sometimes have that sort of day (where you struggle in front of goal) and we’re hopeful that sort of day comes today and not next week.”